OMM Newsroom
The UK will provide a £100 ($133) winter energy payment to 20 million households in England and give Ukraine an additional £10 billion ($13.3 billion) in economic and military support, Treasury chief John Healey said on Wednesday, according to Anadolu Agency.
The announcements were part of Healey’s first budget, which also includes changes to bank taxation, local government financing and defence spending.
The energy payment will be available to households in council tax bands A to D, which generally cover lower-value residential properties. Funding will also go to the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to introduce similar support.
Healey said the budget would increase the financial powers of local authorities and regional mayors, describing “fiscal devolution” as a key part of the plans. Under the proposals, local authorities will retain business rates locally by the end of the decade, while mayors will receive a share of income tax revenue from 2028.
The government also confirmed a 3.9% increase in the minimum wage for workers aged 18 to 20. The increase for younger workers will be smaller than for other age groups.
The budget adds 3% to the bank surcharge, a tax paid by banks. Healey described the increase as “time-limited”; it is smaller than previously expected.
UK sets out defence spending plans and Ukraine aid
Healey said the UK defence budget was £14 billion higher than in the final year of the Conservative government. The government will explain in next year’s spending review how it plans to meet the UK’s NATO commitment to spend 3.5% of gross domestic product on defence by 2035.
A new defence finance task force will examine ways to reach the target. The government will also seek to increase private investment in defence, including through public-private partnerships.
Healey announced the additional £10 billion for Ukraine after a telephone call earlier in the day with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Healey said he and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham informed Zelenskyy about the package during the call.
“He told us ‘you’ve made my day,’” Healey said. The package includes £500 million in urgent military funding for Ukraine this winter. Healey said Britain would stand with Ukraine “as long as it takes.”
Zelenskyy welcomed the announcement, saying the package included £7 billion in economic support for Kyiv over the next three years and a further £3 billion in British export support.
In a statement on “X”, Zelenskyy described his telephone call with Burnham as “great”. He said the export support would be allocated “primarily for the supply of much-needed weapons that will strengthen our protection of lives.”
Zelenskyy said the additional funding was separate from the annual assistance London already provides to Ukraine. He called the decision a “truly strong” and “very timely” step, saying it came “right as Russia needs to see and feel that Ukraine will not be left alone to deal with the problems Russia is so eager to escalate.”
“Every step to strengthen Ukraine brings Russia closer to realizing that it must end this war of its own making,” Zelenskyy said. He added that he and Burnham had also discussed sanctions policy.
“I am grateful to Britain, to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his team, and to every person around the world who understands that standing with Ukraine is the right thing to do – that it means being on the right side of history,” he said.
